DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #777: THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD TO COUSTEAU FAMILY CAMP
Forty-four years ago, back when I was still in diapers (what's changed?), I met Dr. Richard "Murph" Murphy when he came out to the school I taught marine biology at on Toyon Bay, Santa Catalina Island. He and Jean-Michel Cousteau were planning to run a Channel Islands educational program on board an incredible tall ship, the Golden Dawn out of Santa Barbara.
Sadly the vessel was sold but two years later in 1976 Murph and Jean-Michel held Project Ocean Search Catalina based out of the Toyon school and I was hired as terrestrial ecologist. The year before I had seen the movie "Jaws" which stopped my diving for a bit. Three years later Jean-Michel saw me getting into my wetsuit and asked what got me back in the water. I said I had seen "Jaws II." He laughed.
POS Catalina ran for five years, then Jean-Michel joined his father at The Cousteau Society after his brother Philippe's death in Portugal in June of 1979. I had been with Jean-Michel earlier that sad day as he was being interviewed about seafood by a reporter from the Los Angeles Times. He left the island upon hearing of his brother's passing and I wondered if I'd see him back out here again.
I left at the end of that year to work for my father in Chicago. When I told Jean-Michel, he wrote a nice letter saying I "will never survive there." He knew where my heart was... on Catalina. I did get together with him after a talk he gave in the Chicago area and a year later my girlfriend and I visited him in South Carolina at Project Ocean Search Hilton Head on a round-about route to Boston from Chicago. We were not very good at reading maps back then (in the ancient days before GPS)!
In 1982 I returned to the island I love after a long road trip through much of the USA. It included a stop at Jean-Michel's office to watch 35mm slides from their recently completed Amazon adventure with Jean-Michel and "Murph" during a holiday party. Jean Michel occasionally brought his dive teams out to the island to test new equipment in our waters. He knew where to find me... having dinner at the original Antonio's.
Then in 1984 I became a script consultant and liaison for the filming of a documentary on the Channel Islands as part of "Cousteau's Rediscovery of the World" for Turner Broadcasting. That fulfilled a bucket list item for me. In the years following that we would get together occasionally and even work on a few film projects together. The most recent one was "Jean-Michel Cousteau's Secret Ocean 3-D" when we filmed a massive market squid run in Catalina waters.
In 1989 I went to see him out on Santa Cruz Island for another Project Ocean Search adventure. Packy Offield and I were hoping that he would get a permanent facility out on Catalina to run his educational programs. Unfortunately local politics torpedoed that project but in 1997 he began sharing Catalina Island Camps great facilities at Howland's Landing.
Here, on the island's West End, Jean-Michel runs the Cousteau Family Camp in August each year and other educational programs such as the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program (CELP) the rest of the year in conjunction with Catalina Island Camps. One of the highlights of Family Camp is that participants get one-on-one time with Jean-Michel, Holly and Murph. CELP was the first of Ocean Futures' Ambassadors of the Environment programs.
I usually go down to see Jean-Michel, Murph and Holly Lohuis at Family Camp each summer. The last two years I was unable to because of my cancer surgeries, but this year I canceled a chemo session so I could be on-island to head up there. It was a pretty emotional boat ride to Howland's as I passed so many dive sites I may never get to dive again, as well as Toyon Bay where my career on the island started way back in August of 1969. I had memories from each and every site flowing through my feeble brain as we cruised along.
Arriving at Howlands on board CDS's SCUBA Cat dive boat, I walked up to the dive shack where Holly and Jean-Michel were giving a talk to a group that would head out with us to snorkel that morning with us. I tried to remain inconspicuous but Holly interrupted her presentation to introduce me to the group as a long time friend of Jean-Michel. After the talk he and I chatted for a bit before boarding the SCUBA Cat to go snorkeling at Indian Rock in Emerald Bay. It had been years since I last snorkeled so I had to add a snorkel to my kit for this trip to join Jean-Michel in the water.
The boat, ably crewed by the likes of Mike Garcia, Mark Guccione, Jason Manix and Robert Park of Catalina Diver's Supply over the two days we were there; put the snorkelers in the water with Jean-Michel, his wife Nan and Holly. Sadly Murph was unable to attend this year's Camp and he was greatly missed. One of the wonderful things about Family Camp is how receptive Jean-Michel is about answering questions from the guests, both in group sessions and one-to-one. It is especially touching to watch him interact with the young children who attend. I've observed this in every program Jean-Michel has conducted dating back to the 70s.
This is a great way for families to learn about our ocean planet. Further information about the Camp can be obtained via the Catalina Island Camps webpage Jean Michel Cousteau Family Camp - Catalina Island Camps or at Ocean Futures Family Camp, Catalina Island, California | Ocean Futures Society.
Each day I had lunch with Jean-Michel and Nan and was able to get updated on some of the new developments at his Ocean Futures non-profit up in Santa Barbara. They always have a few new projects underway which is exciting. I was invited to stay for closing night, which is always fun, but had no transportation back to Avalon (and it is a LONG swim!) so I departed with the CDS crew. Jean-Michel and Nan promised they would be out before next year's session. I'm holding them to that!
© 2018 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of more than 775 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Holly and Jean-Michel giving talk and Murph was there with his grandchildren, just a bit stiff this year; Jean-Michel interacting with young participants; snorkelers at Indian Rock and group photo on the SCUBA Cat.
Forty-four years ago, back when I was still in diapers (what's changed?), I met Dr. Richard "Murph" Murphy when he came out to the school I taught marine biology at on Toyon Bay, Santa Catalina Island. He and Jean-Michel Cousteau were planning to run a Channel Islands educational program on board an incredible tall ship, the Golden Dawn out of Santa Barbara.
Sadly the vessel was sold but two years later in 1976 Murph and Jean-Michel held Project Ocean Search Catalina based out of the Toyon school and I was hired as terrestrial ecologist. The year before I had seen the movie "Jaws" which stopped my diving for a bit. Three years later Jean-Michel saw me getting into my wetsuit and asked what got me back in the water. I said I had seen "Jaws II." He laughed.
POS Catalina ran for five years, then Jean-Michel joined his father at The Cousteau Society after his brother Philippe's death in Portugal in June of 1979. I had been with Jean-Michel earlier that sad day as he was being interviewed about seafood by a reporter from the Los Angeles Times. He left the island upon hearing of his brother's passing and I wondered if I'd see him back out here again.
I left at the end of that year to work for my father in Chicago. When I told Jean-Michel, he wrote a nice letter saying I "will never survive there." He knew where my heart was... on Catalina. I did get together with him after a talk he gave in the Chicago area and a year later my girlfriend and I visited him in South Carolina at Project Ocean Search Hilton Head on a round-about route to Boston from Chicago. We were not very good at reading maps back then (in the ancient days before GPS)!
In 1982 I returned to the island I love after a long road trip through much of the USA. It included a stop at Jean-Michel's office to watch 35mm slides from their recently completed Amazon adventure with Jean-Michel and "Murph" during a holiday party. Jean Michel occasionally brought his dive teams out to the island to test new equipment in our waters. He knew where to find me... having dinner at the original Antonio's.
Then in 1984 I became a script consultant and liaison for the filming of a documentary on the Channel Islands as part of "Cousteau's Rediscovery of the World" for Turner Broadcasting. That fulfilled a bucket list item for me. In the years following that we would get together occasionally and even work on a few film projects together. The most recent one was "Jean-Michel Cousteau's Secret Ocean 3-D" when we filmed a massive market squid run in Catalina waters.
In 1989 I went to see him out on Santa Cruz Island for another Project Ocean Search adventure. Packy Offield and I were hoping that he would get a permanent facility out on Catalina to run his educational programs. Unfortunately local politics torpedoed that project but in 1997 he began sharing Catalina Island Camps great facilities at Howland's Landing.
Here, on the island's West End, Jean-Michel runs the Cousteau Family Camp in August each year and other educational programs such as the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program (CELP) the rest of the year in conjunction with Catalina Island Camps. One of the highlights of Family Camp is that participants get one-on-one time with Jean-Michel, Holly and Murph. CELP was the first of Ocean Futures' Ambassadors of the Environment programs.
I usually go down to see Jean-Michel, Murph and Holly Lohuis at Family Camp each summer. The last two years I was unable to because of my cancer surgeries, but this year I canceled a chemo session so I could be on-island to head up there. It was a pretty emotional boat ride to Howland's as I passed so many dive sites I may never get to dive again, as well as Toyon Bay where my career on the island started way back in August of 1969. I had memories from each and every site flowing through my feeble brain as we cruised along.
Arriving at Howlands on board CDS's SCUBA Cat dive boat, I walked up to the dive shack where Holly and Jean-Michel were giving a talk to a group that would head out with us to snorkel that morning with us. I tried to remain inconspicuous but Holly interrupted her presentation to introduce me to the group as a long time friend of Jean-Michel. After the talk he and I chatted for a bit before boarding the SCUBA Cat to go snorkeling at Indian Rock in Emerald Bay. It had been years since I last snorkeled so I had to add a snorkel to my kit for this trip to join Jean-Michel in the water.
The boat, ably crewed by the likes of Mike Garcia, Mark Guccione, Jason Manix and Robert Park of Catalina Diver's Supply over the two days we were there; put the snorkelers in the water with Jean-Michel, his wife Nan and Holly. Sadly Murph was unable to attend this year's Camp and he was greatly missed. One of the wonderful things about Family Camp is how receptive Jean-Michel is about answering questions from the guests, both in group sessions and one-to-one. It is especially touching to watch him interact with the young children who attend. I've observed this in every program Jean-Michel has conducted dating back to the 70s.
This is a great way for families to learn about our ocean planet. Further information about the Camp can be obtained via the Catalina Island Camps webpage Jean Michel Cousteau Family Camp - Catalina Island Camps or at Ocean Futures Family Camp, Catalina Island, California | Ocean Futures Society.
Each day I had lunch with Jean-Michel and Nan and was able to get updated on some of the new developments at his Ocean Futures non-profit up in Santa Barbara. They always have a few new projects underway which is exciting. I was invited to stay for closing night, which is always fun, but had no transportation back to Avalon (and it is a LONG swim!) so I departed with the CDS crew. Jean-Michel and Nan promised they would be out before next year's session. I'm holding them to that!
© 2018 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of more than 775 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Holly and Jean-Michel giving talk and Murph was there with his grandchildren, just a bit stiff this year; Jean-Michel interacting with young participants; snorkelers at Indian Rock and group photo on the SCUBA Cat.
